FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a conventional information exchange system.
Conventional information exchange system 1 is configured in such a manner that information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n, a server 12, and terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m are allowed to communicate with each other through a network 14.
The information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n may be, for example, video cameras that take pictures of their surroundings to collect pieces of live streaming video image information. It should be noted that the information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n may be those that provide pieces of streaming video information in real time.
The n pieces of real-time and/or live streaming video image information gathered by the information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n are supplied to the server 12 through the network 14. The server 12 distributes and delivers these pieces of real-time and/or live streaming video image information gathered by the information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n to the individual terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m, in answer to a request from the terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m. 
It should be noted that the conventional information gathering systems of the type described are designed for cases where the number of pieces of the streaming video image information to be exchanged is more overwhelming than the number of users, so the server 12 is required to have a high processing capacity.
To this end, the conventional information exchange methods of the type described collect the pieces of streaming video information gathered by the information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n on the server 12 before distributing and delivering them to the terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m in answer to their requests. Therefore, problems lie in that it causes huge processing loads on the server 12.
In addition, the server 12 is accessed by all terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m that ask for the pieces of streaming video information gathered by the information gathering devices 11-1 to 11-n. Problems lie in that increase in the number of the terminal devices 13-1 to 13-m gradually reduces the communication rate and, in some cases, may cause missing frames from the streaming video information.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a conventional content exchange system.
A content exchange system 20 is configured in such a manner that a client 21 and a server 22 are allowed to communicate with each other through a network 23. Upon a request from the client 21 to the server 22, the server 22 provides the client 21 with a content that is asked for by the client 21 through the network 23.
In this event, a user should work on his or her client 21 to find a server 22 which includes a content that he or she needs and access that server 22. In addition, he or she cannot choose a communication route from the client 21 to the server 22.
In the network 23, individual routers Rt can automatically determine the optimum route for communication, and data are transmitted through the communication route selected by these routers Rt.
As apparent from the above, any clients 21 wanting to obtain necessary content(s) should access a certain server 22 in the conventional content exchange system 20, and they should find the server 22 which stores the content(s) they want. Therefore, problems lie in that user's operation becomes complicated.
In addition, in the conventional content exchange system 20, a communication route is automatically selected by the routers Rt included in the network 23. The routers Rt determine the optimum path depending on the traffic over their surrounding communication paths. They do not take into account the traffic on the downstream paths. Consequently, the overall communication rate of a selected route could possibly be slow. This means that the entire routing is not taken into account.
The present invention was made with respect to the above-mentioned issues, and an object thereof is to provide an information exchange method, an information processor, and an information gathering system with which pieces of streaming video information gathered by a number of information gathering devices can be exchanged efficiently.
In addition, the present invention was made with respect to the above-mentioned issues, and an object thereof is to provide a communication method, a communication system, an intermediary device, and a communication device with which a content that is asked for by a client can be obtained at a high speed.